The "Middle East and Terrorism" Blog was created in order to supply information about the implication of Arab countries and Iran in terrorism all over the world. Most of the articles in the blog are the result of objective scientific research or articles written by senior journalists.

From the Ethics of the Fathers: "He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it."

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Thursday, March 7, 2013

Academy Right on Shin Bet film

by Melanie Phillips

Phew! Thank heavens the Israeli film The Gatekeepers failed to win an
Oscar. Maybe the Almighty is a cinema-goer and also felt like throwing
up when he saw it.

Of course this film is going down a storm among liberal Jews, who are
lapping up its confirmation by apparently unimpeachable authorities
that Israel has slid into a pit of moral infamy.

The film consists of interviews with six former heads of Israel's
domestic intelligence agency, the Shin Bet. Its dominant message is that
Israeli society has been fatally corrupted by two noxious influences -
the "settlers" and the Orthodox - and that those in Shin Bet charged
with keeping it safe are sickened by what they themselves had to do.

Now, self-criticism and moral questioning are elevated Jewish
virtues. But there is a great difference between conscience and
demoralisation. These six imply that if only Israel had come out of the
West Bank, there would now be peace in the Middle East.

As one of them says: "This job makes you into a leftist." Given such laughably simplistic views, does it also rot the brain?

Director Dror Moreh never states that Arab violence against Jews and
Israelis pre-dated the "occupation" by decades. Nor does he ask how
Israel would cope with the "Hamastan" the West Bank would become after
such a withdrawal, just like Gaza.

Indeed, years back several of these men had similarly urged Israel to
withdraw from Gaza - the lethal consequences of which they fail to
acknowledge.

We don't know to what extent these six were unaware how they would be
used in this film. But it is astounding to see former intelligence
chiefs shooting their mouths off with opinions that can only hearten
Israel's enemies. For any former director of MI5, such behaviour would
be utterly unthinkable.

For sure, Moreh does not sanitise Palestinian violence. His footage
of the aftermath of the bus bombings during the Second Intifada is
unsparingly graphic.

And there is no doubting the desperate struggle by Shin Bet and
inevitable moral compromises needed to prevent further such atrocities.

But Moreh nevertheless suggests a hideous equivalence between
Palestinian murderers and the Orthodox, who are effectively
group-libelled as fanatics who would even plot to blow up the Dome of
the Rock.

Using the behaviour of a few crazies to damn a whole group is a
well-known propaganda trick - as is misrepresenting a genocidal culture
as just a few crazies.

But one has to wonder how men at the forefront of the defence against
barbarism could have concluded that Israel has become unrecognisably
cruel and callous.

Of course, one assumes that some things they have done are near the
knuckle. But you would simply never know from this film of the lengths
to which Israel goes to protect the lives of Palestinian innocents, and
that the Israeli courts make unprecedented use of human rights law to
invigilate the treatment of Palestinians.

So how does one explain such a disturbing absence of balance amongst
men charged with protecting the innocent against mass murder?

The answer surely lies in this chilling remark. A Palestinian told
the Shin Bet man that the Palestinians were winning against Israel -
because however much pain Israel caused the Palestinians, they would
cause the Israelis just as much pain by forcing the Israelis to cause
this pain to them.

In other words, the Palestinians believe that the Jews' uniquely
developed conscience and sense of compassion will ultimately undermine
their necessary defence against aggression. In the battle between those
who love life and those who love death, there is alas no contest.